Doc error on super(cls,self)

[David MacQuigg]

I think there is a documentation error in both the Library Reference
section 2.1 and the Python 2.2 Quick Reference page 19.  The
explanation for this function is:

super( type[, object-or-type]) 
   Returns the superclass of type.

I could not get this function to work right until I realized that it
is searching the entire MRO, not just the superclasses of 'type'.
Here is a simple experiment to show the difference.

##    Animal  ->  Mammal  ->  Feline  ->  Cat
##      talk1()     talk1()                 talk1()  
##    \ - - - ->  Mammal2 - - - - - - ->  /
##                  talk2()
>>> super(Mammal,cat1).talk2()
Mammal2: Fluffy says Purr
>>> super(Animal,cat1).talk2()
AttributeError: 'super' object has no attribute 'talk2'
>>> Cat.__mro__
(<class '__main__.Cat'>, <class '__main__.Feline'>,
 <class '__main__.Mammal'>, <class '__main__.Mammal2'>,
 <class '__main__.Animal'>, <type 'object'>)

The first call finds talk2, even though it is *not* in a superclass of
Mammal.  The second call fails, because talk2 is not found in any
class above Animal in the MRO.

I think a better explanation would be:

super(cls,self).meth(arg)
This calls method 'meth' from a class in the MRO (Method Resolution
Order) of 'self'.  The selected class is the first one which is above
'cls' in the MRO and which contains 'meth'.

I would like to get some feedback before submitting this as a bug.

-- Dave